OCEANSIDE: Planning Commission not keen on electronic billboards

Oceanside planning commissioners said Monday that they wanted no
part of allowing electronic billboards in the city unless each
electronic sign replaced one or more traditional billboards.

City planning staff suggested allowing the billboards on city
property under lease as part of a proposed overhaul of Oceanside's
sign ordinance.

There are five traditional billboards in the city. Planners
suggested allowing no more than four electronic billboards
citywide, but commissioners didn't take a stand on a number Monday
at a public workshop.

Commissioner Claudia Troisi said she ultimately does want some
limits on the number of electronic signs.

"For me, it's all about the quantity of billboards," Troisi
said. "I, for one, would want a limit on the number of billboards
that could be put in the city."

Planning Commission Chairman Tom Rosales and Commissioners Jay
Scrivener and Robert Ross said they also want to know how much the
city would make leasing land for electronic billboards.

"We're basically selling city assets here," Scrivener said. "I'd
like to know what we're committing to. Are we doing this for
$150,000 a year or $15,000 a year?"

Principal planner Amy Fousekis, who is in charge of drafting a
new sign ordinance, said she had no figures on how much the city
would make leasing land for electronic billboards.

Fousekis said planning staff will refine the proposed changes in
the sign ordinance based on based on comments made at the workshop
and return for a formal Planning Commission meeting Feb. 13.

If the commission approves the revised proposal, she said, it
would go to the City Council for final approval later in the
year.

Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, in comments to reporters during the
workshop, said she doesn't like the electronic signs but if the
city is to consider them, she, too, wants to know how much the city
would make.

Resident Joan Brubaker said she feared that electronic
billboards along highways would be a dangerous distraction to
drivers.

"Leave the drivers have their eyes on traffic, not signs," said
Brubaker, who regularly attends council meetings and comments on a
wide range of issues.

Kevin Brown, a 23-year city resident, said he was concerned that
digital signs would bring "increased accidents and visual blight to
our city."

"To be honest, I don't want to be hit on the freeway by someone
looking at a digital billboard," Brown said. "I do not think
digital billboards are a good fit for the city of Oceanside."

The suggestion to allow electronic signs came up when a San
Marcos advertising company last year proposed erecting an
electronic billboard on city property at the foot of Rancho del Oro
Road, overlooking Highway 78.

Sunrey Media proposed giving the city 15 percent of the
advertising revenue it earned from the sign.

Besides expressing skepticism about electronic billboards, the
commissioners said they would ban so-called feather signs made of
fabric on poles that are often placed in front of businesses, along
with twirling signs.

"I don't want this town looking like a used-car lot in El
Cajon," Scrivener said.

Other changes in the proposed ordinance would bring the city
into compliance with court rulings on free speech, Fousekis
said.

Since the old ordinance was adopted in 1992, courts have ruled
that cities can restrict the size, placement and design of signs
but cannot regulate what the signs say, Fousekis said.

The rewritten ordinance would remove restrictions on language,
she said.

Randall Morrison, a lawyer hired by the city as a sign
consultant, said Oceanside also should avoid restrictions on the
design of signs. He said the city is free to regulate the physical
structure of the signs.

The new ordinance also would combine separate rules now in place
for signs west of Interstate 5 and those used elsewhere in the
city.

Peter Wolf of Wolfpack Sign Group said the city, in drafting a
new sign ordinance, should pay special attention to the evolving
downtown area.

Wolf said the ordinance should allow downtown businesses to use
small, outdoor electronic signs that would be about the size of a
large TV, not a billboard.

A restaurant, for example, could use such a sign to post
changing menus for lunch and dinner, Wolf said.

"From an industry standard, this is where we're headed," Wolf
said. "There really needs to be a lot of thought put into these
other areas."

Commissioners agreed with Wolf and said the city should permit
small electronic signs.